Katherine Parr: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Reformation Queen

About Katherine Parr and this BookKatherine Parr, known popularly as the sixth wife of Henry VIII, was a reformer of both religion and culture in England, and a Christian mystic after the tradition of Thomas à Kempis. One of a dozen women to publish in a hundred year period in England, Parr’s works, Prayers or Meditations and Lamentation or Complaint of a Sinner, captured the hearts of England’s Reformers. As an historical figure, she offers more than just a look into the trials and struggles of the Protestant Reformation, but also a picture of what it was like to be a woman of influence and conviction in such a dangerous age. She had to not only overcome the restricted life of a closet reformer (difficult no matter who you are), but also the cultural restrictions placed on her gender, nearly losing her head as a result. (She also had to live with a husband who was more than king, but the newly-proclaimed “supreme head of the church” in England.)

Endorsements:
“This well-researched study of authoress Parr, Henry VIII’s surviving Queen, contains full reprints of her Prayers or Meditations, drawn from various sources, and her precious autobiographical account of authentic Reformed piety, A Lamentation or Complaint of a Sinner. These are worth more than the price of the book!”

J.I. Packer, The Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College

“This is a very helpful book on a most courageous woman—one of the most important women of the entire Reformation. Parr’s story ought to be better known by evangelical Christians, who often forget the roles that women have played in shaping their faith and practice.”

Douglas A. Sweeney, Associate Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.